The application applies for unique systems and methods for locking lacing-type footwear.
Lacing-type footwear is an important part of our life, but adjusting, tying, and untying a lace are time-consuming and frustrating. Plus, a bow knot is snagging and cumbersome. Accordingly, there are ever-increasing demands for a convenient, safe, and aesthetic system, which could fasten a footwear quickly and easily, and is affordable, compact, and simple without exposing a bow knot.
Prior arts heretofore have snagging and poking problem of either a bow knot or a cumbersome, hazardous device. A number of cumbersome, hazardous devices have been introduced in:
the U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,439 filed Sep. 29, 1981; the U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,998 filed May. 06, 1980; the U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,119 filed Aug. 27, 1991; the U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,787 filed Nov. 14, 1989; the U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,297 filed Sep. 19, 1978; the U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,682 filed Aug. 30, 1988; the U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,856 filed Feb. 25, 1986; the U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,437 filed Aug. 21, 1990; the U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,094 filed Dec. 29, 1987; the U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,238 filed Sep. 30, 1975; and the U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,854 filed Apr. 22, 1983. These patents teach that to fasten a footwear onto a foot, a user ties lace ends of a lace together, fastens them to a cumbersome, hazardous, expensive device, and exposes them, causing snagging, poking, abrading problem and, therefore, inevitable personal injury. Therefore, all prior arts heretofore teach away from the invention.
Having many advantages over all the prior arts heretofore, the unique system of the invention:
hides lace ends and lace-end fastener inside a footwear tongue and prevent them from moving;
fastens the tongue of a footwear in place when fastening the footwear onto a foot;
only needs to be assembled once to set predetermined lace tensions, which can be reset any time;
eliminates the needs for adjusting, tying a lace every time a footwear is fastened onto a foot;
eliminates the needs for adjusting, untying a lace every time a footwear is unfastened from a foot;
is inexpensive, compact, safe, and simple. Thus, it can be used by people of almost any age;
applies interlock method. Thus, the harder it is pulled, the more securely it fastens a footwear;
only needs to be assembled once; only needs one finger to be operated; and can also serve as a safety system when, for example, partially or entirely made of light-reflecting material.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the ensuing specification and drawings.
A unique system comprises a tongue of a footwear, a lace, a lace-end fastener, and a lace-section fastener. The footwear has two opposite sides and lace-receivers disposed thereon. To assemble the unique system, the footwear is laced with the lace to define opposite lace sections, each of which extends between two of the lace receivers on the same side. The tongue has at least one opening. The lace is threaded through the at least one opening. Then, the lace ends are fastened by the lace-end fastener and are hidden inside the tongue and prevented from moving. The lace-section fastener is for the opposite lace sections to be fastened thereon and to be unfastened therefrom, to fasten the footwear onto and to unfasten the footwear from a foot, respectively.